Statement by the Indonesian Delegation at the 20th Session of the Human Rights Council - Agenda Item 9 - Interactive Dialogue with Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance

Allow me to thank the Special Rapporteur for his report, focusing on the latest development concerning the human rights and democratic challenges posed by extremist political parties; the use of the Internet and social media by extremist political parties, movements and groups; the adverse effects of such phenomena on youth; and the need for preventive measures to address extremism in sport in the light of the sports events in 2012.

My delegation attaches great importance to the issues pertaining to racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, particularly to the follow-up activities in the wake of the Durban Declaration and Program of Action and the Durban Review Conference, and underlines the need to foster international solidarity and cooperation in addressing the issues. We are committed to efforts in this regard.

Mr. Vice-President,

We concur with the views of the Special Rapporteur that tolerance, mutual understanding and respect for all need to be further promoted and that appropriate measures be taken by States to address multiple and interlinked forms of discrimination.

In this regard, at the national level, aside from the principles stipulated in the Constitution, Law No. 40 of 2008 on the Elimination of Racial and Ethnic Discrimination provides the foundation for a culture of respect and tolerance in the multicultural life of the people in Indonesia. In addition, Government Regulation No. 56 of 2010 on the Monitoring Procedures on Efforts to Eliminate Racial and Ethnic Discrimination tasks the National Commission on Human Rights to monitor efforts to eliminate racial and ethnic discrimination, whose mandate includes monitoring, receiving complaints, fact finding and evaluating findings.

We also share the views of the Special Rapporteur on the need to ensure human rights training to law enforcers on addressing racially motivated crimes committed by individuals linked to extremist political parties, movements and groups. My delegation underlines the importance of human rights education in countering the rise of extremist political parties, movements and groups among the young generation, and building a society based on pluralism, tolerance, respect for cultural diversity, multiculturalism and non-discrimination.

In this respect, human rights education and trainings, which include the issues of contemporary form of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, continue to be one of our utmost priorities, and are integrated in the school curricula for students, teachers and law enforcers.

We share the concern of the Special Rapporteur on the increased use of the Internet to disseminate racist ideas and propagate racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance as evidenced in recent events. Therefore, we underline the need to educate the Internet users on how to take advantage of the Internet responsibly.

To conclude, Mr. Vice-President, we also share the concern of the Special Rapporteur on the lack of data as an important obstacle to effectively addressing racist, xenophobic and intolerant crimes by individuals closely linked to extremist political parties, movements and groups. Indonesia's vast and unique geographical condition and demographic aspects, including ethnic-cultural and local language varieties constitute a challenge in data collection, and we would like to ask the Special Rapporteur on the best method to gather data, in this regard.